While most California high school sports continue to be on pause due to the coronavirus pandemic, Roush plans to play next fall for the Mustangs, who are coming off an 11-3 campaign. Roush will then return to Northern California to attend and play for Stanford in 2022.
Roush is considered the nation's fifth-best junior tight end prospect according to 247Sports. He's picked up 17 college offers, including Arizona State, Duke, UCLA and USC. His father played defensive back at Duke in the late 1990s.
Former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer will enter his third season at Lipscomb Academy in the fall.
File photo by Jason Goode
In Nashville, Roush will join Dilfer. Ironically, the Lipscomb Academy coach's daughters were volleyball standouts at Valley Christian.
Dilfer went 7-6 in his first season as head coach at Lipscomb Academy in 2019 before losing in the 2020 state 2A Division II Class AA finals 35-28 to Christ Presbyterian Academy.
Valley Christian, which plays in the rugged West Catholic Athletic League, has gone 52-14 over the last five seasons, losing in the 2016 CIF 2-AA state finals to Madison (San Diego).
Roush isn't the only Californian making the jump to Tennessee.
California hasn't had a football season this school year. Plans to start up in January were put on pause due to the state health department guidelines on youth sports.
Low-risk sports such as golf, tennis, cross country and swimming can compete in counties that are in the purple (widespread risk of virus) tier. All other sports, like football, basketball and baseball, are on hold until their counties move to more favorable tiers.
Despite two weeks of ongoing meetings between the California Interscholastic Federation, Let Them Play CA coalition and Golden State HS Football Coaches Community with Gov. Gavin Newsom and his office, no new guidelines have been offered. Hopes that a resolution would come last week might be weeks away, according to reports, which would all but end the likelihood of a football season.
The CIF has said a potential season could end as late as May 1 while many of the state's 10 sections have set the final date at April 17. Either way, time is running out, and perhaps that is why athletes, coaches and parents are turning to other options.
Multiple reports reveal that club football is on the rise and besides Roush, at least two San Francisco Bay Area head football coaches have quit their jobs to take lesser positions in Tennessee.
